Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt said 5:59PM on 11-03-2008
Looks like just a car with wings, where are the fans on this thing? The fans on Moller's other flying cars are huge. Also, it seems horribly inefficient when on the ground.
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Richie said 7:14PM on 11-03-2008
Really Matt? It looks like just a car with wings? Imagine that from a flying car. Who would have thought that? Were you hoping for something with an anti gravitational propulsion system? Shields? A transporter? Maybe some photon torpedos? Until you get an engineering degree and can contribute too the cause, lighten up.
Matt said 8:55PM on 11-03-2008
Richie, did I run over your dog or something?
Actually, a car with wings is the last thing I would expect from a flying car. Look at Moller's other models, they use massive fans to produce the thrust needed for flight. The description refers to eight thrusters, yet they're seen nowhere on the model. That's what I was questioning. I was more curious about the design than critical of its validity.
Turns out this was announced a couple months ago though, and there is much more information available. The picture shown here is just the wind-tunnel model, which seems to be a die-cast model of the Ferrari with the wing designs added on. So it actually is just a car with wings. Here is a PDF of their presentation of the vehicle, it shows another model with the thrusters added in.
http://www.moller.com/downloads/Autovolantor.pdf
A very interesting concept, but I get the feeling that this is a lot further than 2 years away.
joeomar said 9:43AM on 11-04-2008
The designer comments on the vehicle's ability to "quick hop out of traffic". What, are you kidding? The amount of thrust required to lift even a lightweight car would flip over nearby vehicles and trucks, blast any unfortunate motorcycle rider into the next state, tear up the turf, strip trees of their leaves, throw pedestrians through the nearest shopwindow and break the eardrums of everyone within 1000 feet. And it's probably not very "green" either.
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